Underscoring concerns that Iranian sanctions relief will further fuel terrorism, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told journalists on Saturday that he expects sanctions relief within a "couple of months” of a final deal being reached. When asked about the timeline of sanctions relief, he dismissed the notion that it could take a year and declared that “[i]t might be one month…We are still discussing.” Iran could receive up to a $150 billion windfall in the event of a final deal, and the deadline for reaching an agreement with Iran over its nuclear program is a mere two weeks away.

In a letter to President Obama on Monday, Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) declared that the deal the president is negotiating "will allow Iran’s economy to be restored with billions of dollars… a development that administration officials concede will be used at some level to export terrorism in the region.” David Rothkopf, CEO of The FP Group, which publishes Foreign Policy magazine, wrote that Iran has engaged in “a systematic, 35-year campaign of regional meddling, destabilization, and extension of Iranian influence.” He continued that relief “clearly exacerbates that threat.”

The Iranian regime seeks to expand its dominance and influence in the region through the use of its terror proxies. Jonathan Schanzer, Vice President for Research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Congress that “[the] Houthis, the Assad regime, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas. Every one of these groups stands to benefit. They’re all salivating right now at this idea of a cash infusion.” The prospect of Iran receiving an influx of cash also fuels fears amongst the Sunni Gulf States. Former U.S. Treasury official Matthew Levitt explained that they are “very worried about the near-term release of significant amounts of money that will empower Iran to do all sorts of things.”

An Israeli cybersecurity firm released a report on Iranian hacking efforts primarily targeting Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Yemen, The Times of Israel reported Sunday.

The Israeli ClearSky cybersecurity company said it has discovered an ongoing wave of cyber attacks originating from Iran on targets in Israel and the Middle East. The goal is “espionage or other nation-state interests,” the firm said. …

Company officials said that the targets outside Israel included the finance minister of a Middle Eastern country, Qatar’s embassy in Britain, journalists and human rights activists, according to Israel Radio. …

The authors said “several characteristics of the attacks have led us to the conclusion that an Iranian threat actor is the likely culprit.” They said they assume, but do not have direct evidence, that the hacking campaign is either being supported by the Iranian regime or performed by the regime itself: “The context of the attacks and cover stories all revolve around Iran,” the report noted. “The attackers speak and write in native Iranian Persian and make mistakes characteristic of Persian speakers. In one of the hacked accounts, when retrieved, the interface language had been changed to Persian.”

According the report, 44 percent of these attacks targeted sites in Saudi Arabia, 14 percent sites in Israel, and 11 percent in Yemen. The targeted sites included those involved in counter-terrorism, diplomacy, international relations, and physics. Journalists and human rights activists were also targeted.

According to ClearSky, this wave of attacks, which has been going on since at least last year, is “the toughest one they have encountered in terms of duration and persistence.”

Dr. Thamar E. Gindin, a professor specializing in Iranian linguistics and pre-Islamic Iran at the University of Haifa, who was one of the targets of the cyber attacks, assisted with the investigation.

Last year an American cybersecurity firm documented Iranian hacking attacks targeting transportation networks, including airlines and airports in South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. (via TheTower.org)

If the $4,595 Jimmy Choo Cinderella slipper – recently added to shoe boutiques to coincide with the real-life Disney version of the classic fairy tale — was out of your budget, a new Israeli app will soon help you find your own magical footwear without breaking the bank. In fact, Prince Charming probably could have shortened his search if he had SnapGet, the Android and iOS mobile application that shows you where to buy the exact or similar shoe you’re looking for. For retailers, who will pay SnapGet a percentage of their revenues, it’s a chance to display their inventories on another platform. For users, the free app will enhance their shopping experience. “The problem is that there’s no way of converting what you see and what you like to what you can get. And with SnapGet, we can do that,” co-founder and CEO Danny Shir tells ISRAEL21c. Snap a photo of a shoe you like with your smartphone, add it to the SnapGet app, and the Israeli technology will tell you where to get it (as well as similar products like it) or let you purchase it through the app. Or, choose an image from Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, WeHeartIt, news media, photo gallery or e-magazine, upload to the mobile application inventory and within minutes you’ll know where to go to make your feet happier. “When a user uploads a photo from anywhere — whether Facebook or CNN, it doesn’t matter — we’ll match the analysis we’ve done on the inventory of merchandise,” says Shir, noting the app has more than 50,000 shoe styles in its database and affiliate relationships with 18,000 merchants. (via Israel21c)